Daiwa Roynet Hotel Kobe Sannomiya Premier — Hotel in Kobe

This hotel has absolutely the worst service. We have a family of 4 and we tried to book one room and it says only smoking room available on the website. We didn’t think it would be that bad but once we got there, the smoking smell was not tolerable. It was giving me a headache. Then we decided to go to the front desk to change. However, the lady in the front seems like a person in training and no one else offered to help after we struggled for 1 hour. My wife was begging for someone who knows English to help. So here is the details of what happened. We wanted to switch from 1 smoking room to another non-smoking room. And I guess there is non available and so she kept on saying we can’t. Then we said how about 1 smoking to 2 non-smoking rooms with 2 people in each room. She seemed confused and was trying to offer us 2 smoking rooms. Then she said we have to cancel the smoking one and then rebook 2 new rooms. We already pay thru agoda and we should just have to pay the difference of getting 2 rooms vs 1 room. She was reluctant to do it and no one else at the front desk was willing to help. We eventually have to use zoom meeting to call some customer service who knows mandarin. The lady then tried to charge us 2 rooms without subtracting the original room price that I had paid. After all this is done, she impolitely told us to move the luggages immediately. We spent like over an hour and missed our dinner plans and she dared to ask us to move asap. I don’t think this hotel deserves a 9 out of 10 stars from agoda. This service is absolutely the worst I have ever seen. At the end of the trip when we are leaving, the lady who was rude to us at the beginning told us to go thru the side door to take the escalator down to 1st floor when we were waiting for the elevator. With huge luggages and with kids, it was best to take the elevator and she told us to use the side door for the escalator. I think she was trying to create more burden for us.

We tried to talk to the supervisor and he had us waited for 15 minutes after we scheduled a time to meet. The supervisor told us that he talked to his higher up and there is nothing they can do for wasting our precious time. I am simply looking for an explanation for the bad treatment. But it seems like they are just hiding behind that door next to the front desk. From all of our stays at different hotels, I have never seen this...

It was classy feeling hotel. Staff was nice and amenities were plenty. Something we had never seen before was mouthwash and leave in hair conditioner. ||The only annoying thing was that the hotel elevator always makes a stop at the second floor where the front desk is, even if you don’t want to. ||||Directions to find the hotel are a bit off. Yes, it’s a 7-10 min walk from the station but that also depends from which exit. In frustration we walked from Shin Kobe to the hotel and back a few times. We were able for it though!! Our legs were fine and the day was beautiful so it wasn’t a problem. We did eventually sort it out, but finding the line that we needed to get off at (near the hotel) was not exactly easy. We found it more difficult than Tokyo or any of the other 12 cities that we went to on our trip. The beds were extremely comfortable, the room was large, the amenities were wonderful as explained earlier. We had bottled water in the room and towels left fresh for us each day if we didn’t want people to come into our room. There were toothbrushes and toothpaste, as well as bath cloths, face wash, face wash and moisturizer. We would definitely stay here again now that we know how to get there. It just wasn’t easy. This is also my seventh trip to Japan so it’s not as though I don’t know how to use the subway or to speak Japanese and ask for directions.||As a final note, the Japan rail pass does not work on the regular (local) line so we did have to pay around ¥240 total for the two of us each time we accessed their local line.||The room had a large TV that was a smart TV. We could watch Netflix or anything that we wanted. The bathroom was extremely large and the toilet and everything was totally updated.||There was also a safe in the room, which we enjoyed. Of course Lawsons and 7-Eleven were directly across the street and there was a fridge in our room.||||There was enormous amount of shopping directly across the street as well as two McDonald’s and all kinds of Japanese restaurants. The shops were open...

Coming from Osaka by sea, it took us a good two hours to reach Kobe. So trains are faster and better, only about 1.5 hours. From the Sannomiya station, it took us about 8-9 mins easy walk to find this imposing and new hotel. Check in at 2pm, we were assigned room 1607. ||Room was spacious with comfy Twin beds. Facing the back of the hotel and the mountains, room was quiet and windows could be opened slightly, allowing in fresh air! This is very important for sensitive nose sufferers like me and during the Covid pandemic. Amenities are all provided - sleeping pajamas with shirt and pants, toothbrushes & toothpaste, shaver, comb, coffee, tea, slippers, toiletries etc. Only thing lacking is a shower cap, which i brought along, lucky me! ||As we check in right after Christmas, ie on 26/12, our rate was really low and superb value! Regrettably, we stayed only one night and should have stayed at least two or three. Lobby is huge with tons of seating spaces, impressed! The attached restaurant is also big but did not see their advertised breakfasts rates? ||From this hotel, we walked to the waterfront and found a unique Atoa Aquarium - a site that is not cheap (2,400 yen) but not to be missed! The next day, we took the City Loop bus and visited the Kitanocho area. You can buy the 1 day or 2 days bus pass from the driver with unlimited hop on hop off opportunities. Buses are very frequent, 15 mins interval, so its very useful. ||You can buy a Museum pass for 3,000 yen which allows you access to 7 refurbished houses in the Kitanocho area, built from 100-130 years ago. The whole circuit would take close to 2 hours as we were told. So start early like 9.30 or 10am. This hilly area is also not to be missed while in Kobe! After a brief visit, walk downhill to Daimaru Dept Store and the Chinatown area for luch. ||A wonderful short stay but we will surely be back for a 2-3 nights stay again...